Brimstone and Ashes
by Brasdllr0
Summary: a young boy thought his life was pretty normal even though he had an odd growth abnormality. that was until he found a strange blue pad in the middle of a field...
1. A New Beginning

Prologue

We enter on the life of a 15 year old boy named Michael. He was a troubled boy, having been passed from foster home to foster home for pretty much his entire life. He never stayed in the same home for more than a year, and oftentimes didn't get to go to school. He had always been made fun of for the dark red abnormality on his back. It was rectangular in shape and oddly smooth. He'd had this strange thing on him since birth. Despite it being on his lower neck, he barely ever noticed it was there, and oftentimes forgot about it. No matter how many times he tried though, he couldn't find any condition that described it. He rarely had any friends, making those few he had all the more important to him. It was just another day for Michael. He wore his usual outfit, a red T-shirt with jeans with a black jacket, to high school. Today was April 8th, his birthday. On his way to school, he couldn't keep his mind off of what had occurred the previous night…

Michael had just gotten into his PJ's, red and white striped pajama pants and a light grey shirt with a blockcraft logo on it. he turned off the lights in his room and got into bed. Before he could doze off though, he felt a strange feeling go through his entire body. Thinking he had left his window open, He got up out of bed, moved to his window, rolled up the blinds, and was met by the gaze of a strange someone standing outside his window. They quickly jumped back and ran off into the night before he could get a good look at them, but he did notice something shining on the back of their hand. Thinking nothing of it, he got back into bed and fell asleep quickly.

It wasn't until now that he really gave some thought into it, but it was far too late to do anything about it. He rubbed his abnormality instinctively. As he approached the school, he saw one of his few friends, Austin, standing by the entrance to the school. "Are the doors seriously still not open?" Michael asked

"Yeah dude, it's only 6:46" Austin answered.

"Oh really? I thought it was later than that" Michael said

"Nope, but in the meantime, wanna play super flash siblings?" Austin asked, pulling his mimbendo switch out of his bag

"Sure!" Michael replied, moving over next to him

they sat and played for a while, until Michael felt the same feeling he had felt the night before. "Hey Austin, can you pause the game for a bit? I need to check something" Michael asked as he stood up.

"Oh, sure, the doors are about to open anyway" Austin replied as he put away his switch and stood up as well.

Michael looked around for a moment when he thought he saw movement in the field in front of the school. Being the curious kid he was, he went to investigate. As he moved over to where he saw it, he quickly noticed the change in scenery, the tall grass slowly gave way to small oddly shaped stones in the ground, and then taller stones, and even taller ones. On the sides of them were strange markings and symbols. As he was looking at one of them, something shiny caught his attention. He tilted his head around the stone to look at it and saw an odd looking blue pedestal looking structure in the middle of a triangle of stones.

He walked up to it, then stepped onto it, getting a feel for how...off..it felt. 'This is crazy' he thought, 'this stuff is nothing like anything I've seen before, but it feels like I've been here before, like this is ho-' his thoughts were interrupted by a bright light emanating from the pedestal. He didn't even have time to think before he was carried away by the light…

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this updated version clears a lot of things up about his backstory, feel free to leave reviews and ask questions!


	2. A New Place

He was carried by the light for about 10 seconds, all the while he was silently panicking. 'Oh my god what's happening? Where is this taking me? Why do I still feel so calm?' He thought to himself.

The light dispersed suddenly, and he was left standing on another blue pedestal in a huge field of pink flowers.

"Woah…" he said, in awe of the sheer amount of them. They seemed to stretch out forever in every direction. Before he could get off the pad to take a closer look at the flowers to see what kind they were though, the pedestal activated again, sending him off somewhere else.

He arrived above a beach on another blue pedestal. He looked around for a moment before turning around and noticing he was on the hand of a large stone carving of a...lady? 'Where am I…?' He thought to himself as he got off the pedestal and noticed a washing machine and a white basket. He decided to try and get down by sliding off the stone arm of the carving. He approached the arm and started slowly but steadily getting down it. Eventually he was almost at ground level and cautiously hopped off the arm onto the sand below. That's when he noticed the house at the base of the carving, it seemed to be held up by a few other arms of the carving. He decided to go and see if anyone was home and ask if they knew where he was. He went up the steps to the front door of the house and knocked on it. Inside he saw a little kid approach the door and open it.

"Hello there! What do ya need?" The kid asked cheerfully.

"Uhm, where am I?" Michael asked back.

"You're at my house!" The answered with a small chuckle.

"No I mean what city am I in"

"Oh, that's easy! You're in beach city!"

"Beach….city..?" Michael said, still not knowing where exactly he was.

"Yeah, beach city! Y'know, beaches….and cities.." the kid answered. "You're welcome to come in, y'know, the gems aren't back yet, but that doesn't mean _I _can't be welcoming!" The kid added.

"The gems?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet" he said, listing them on his fingers.

"Uh...okay…" Michael said.

"So come on in! My name is Steven by the way" the kid said, moving out of the way of the door

"Mines Michael" Michael said, moving into the house. He quickly took notice of another blue pedestal in the middle of the house, with a strange looking door behind it. "hey, that's the thing that brought me here" He said, pointing to the pedestal.

"The warp pad? I thought only gems could use those.." Steven said, now looking at the pedestal as well.

"What even are gems?" Michael asked.

"Oh! They're these magical ladies from space that have gems on their bodies, and I'm one of them too! Though it's a bit complicated.." Steven said, lifting his shirt to reveal a pink gem where his belly button should be.

"o-oh, ok" Michael said, instinctively moving his hand to the back of his neck and rubbing the surface of his abnormality. He decided not to show Steven despite wanting to. "So...do they live here or something?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, they take care of me, but they mostly live in the temple," Steven said, pointing to the door behind the warp pad.

"Oh, alright, so are they in there right now?" Michael asked, pointing to the temple door.

"No, they're out on a mission right now, but they should be back pretty soon" Steven answered.

Michael suddenly felt a sense of dread crawl over him. Although he didn't know why, he **had** to keep his abnor- no, his gem, a secret from those gems Steven had told him about.

"A-alright, well I'd better leave then" Michael said shakily.

"Why? Don't you want to meet the gems?" Steven asked, giving him a somewhat concerned look.

"Maybe later, bye!" Michael said as he turned and ran out the door just as the temples warp pad flared to life.

"Wait, come back!" Steven shouted as Michael ran down the steps and up the temples arm to the warp pad on its hand.

As he reached the warp pad and activated it, there was a split second when he saw 3 figures come up behind Steven...


	3. A New Friend

As Michael travelled through the warp, he thought about whether or not Steven would come after him with his 'gem' Friends. 'Hopefully they don't' he thought 'I really don't want to meet them...but I don't know why'. He had made all of these drastic decisions completely on impulse. he had never thought that reacting the way he did was uncalled for while he was doing it, but afterwards, he felt a bit crazy for desperately trying to get away from them. 'Those gem ladies probably weren't so bad', but even as he thought those words, a part of his mind tried to quickly force them back down. Eventually he arrived back at the warp pad in the field near his home...and was greeted by someone peeking out from behind a nearby pillar. From what he could see, they had short light red hair and red skin, they had Large eyes with red pupils. He stared at them, and they stared back. They held each other's gaze for a few seconds until they darted back behind the pillar.

"Wait! Come back!" Michael shouted. He walked towards the pillar slowly as to not frighten them. They peeked around the pillar again, and then came fully into view. They were wearing a light red bodysuit that stretched down to just above their knees and went up to their neck. A red, puffy, see-through skirt wrapped around their waist and went down to their lower thighs. They had small little ballet slippers on, but perhaps their most defining features was their red skin

and the shining round thing embedded in the back of their right hand.

Again, they stared at each other for a few moments before Michael spoke up. "You're who I saw last night, right?", he asked. They nodded, "what's your name?" he asked. They hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "Pearl." They said. "Ok Pearl, you're one of those crystal gems, right?" he asked, already knowing the answer. He didn't get the same feeling he got when steven mentioned the crystal gems from Pearl. They shook their head, and Michael breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god, those guys gave me the willies" Michael said, holding a hand up to rub his temple. Pearl moved a little closer to Michael, feeling a little more comfortable with him now. "So, what are you then? Cause I know you're definitely not human like….like me…" Michael hesitated. What was he? He definitely wasn't human, that was made obvious by the thing on the back of his neck, but he wasn't like the crystal gems either, so what was he…..

"A gem." Pearl said, pulling him from his thoughts. "A gem? Huh, never heard of those" Michael said, putting a hand up to his chin. "Don't you remember?" Pearl asked, "remember me?". "I can't say that I've seen you before last night" Michael said. At this, Pearl seemed to grow sad. "Though you do seem kinda familiar….like I know you from somewhere…" Michael said, deep in thought. This seemed to set Pearl off, tears grew at the sides of her eyes. "Because you do! I'm your Pearl!" She shouted angrily. "W-what?" Michael said, moving back a little. "I've been here the whole time, trying to get you to remember, to get your attention, to make you even act like you remember anything before this stupid form of yours!" Pearl continued, starting to cry. Michael was too stunned and confused to get a word in. "And now I have your attention and instead of even pretending you know m-me..you're just…." Pearl said, growing quieter. "y-you're…..just…." She crumpled to the ground, sobbing openly now. Michael moves over to Pearls side. "Hey, it's ok, I'm just as confused about all this as you are" Michael said, trying to be as comforting as he possibly could in this situation. Pearl looked up at Michael and grabbed his hand, "you should just shatter me...replace me...I'm expendable anyways…" she said, holding her head down and closing her eyes. "I dunno what shattering is, but you don't seem expendable to me. we just met and I already know that you're unique, unlike anyone else I've ever met or even seen!" Michael said. Pearl looked up at him now, shock apparent in her huge eyes. "R-really?" She asked quietly. "Yeah! You look really cool and you're not like those Crystal gem guys." Michael said reassuringly. Pearl lowered her head again, then quickly wrapped her arms around Michael in a hug. Michael was shocked for a moment and didn't know how to react to this person he just met hugging him suddenly, but felt oddly compelled to hug them back. "Thank you" Pearl said quietly, "that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me..". She held him for a moment longer and then let go, he did so as well, and the two stared at each other for an awkward few seconds, before Michael stood up and checked his phone. "Yeesh, it's almost 4:30, my dads probably worried about me not coming home from school…...or not going to school at all…" he realized. "School?" Pearl asked. "Ah ha….I'll explain later, when I'm not about to get a stern talking to from my pops." Michael said nervously. He turned and starting walking home, Pearl not far behind him. He stopped a few feet later when he realized Pearl wasn't far behind him. "Uh, you can't come with me" he said. "Why not?" Pearl asked. "Because he doesn't know what gems are or who you are in general, he'll probably freak out or something, you probably need to stay here until I can tell him about you" Micheal said. "Oh, ok.." Pearl responded, a little sad. He noticed this, "hey, don't worry, I'll come and visit you until I talk to my dad about it" Michael said reassuringly. "Ok" Pearl said. With this, Michael started walking back home again, this time Pearl didn't follow him.

This was the beginning of something big...


	4. A New Threat

As Michael walked home, his mind drifted back to what had happened at the beach house. He simply couldn't shake the feeling that the crystal gems were bad news, and that he needed to stay away from them at all costs. He rubbed the surface of his abnor-gem nervously. He had only recently figured out that his 'abnormality' was indeed a gem, and that he wasn't completely human. He knew nothing about gems other than the fact that they don't look like regular people, and he looked like a regular person, so he wasn't a gem, but he had a gem, so he wasn't human. The question arose in him once again, 'what even am I…..?' He thought. Before he could give his question further thought though, he reached his house. It was located in a small grove in the woods, with a dirt path leading to the steps. The house itself was made out of wood and some bricks, and painted white and light blue. Although not surrounded by neighbors and people like he had originally wanted when they moved here, he had come to appreciate how quiet and quaint it was. Which was quite ironic due to how his foster dad acted. A wave of anxiety overcame him as he went up the steps, and for a moment, he forgot all about Pearl and the events that occurred earlier. He paused for a moment before opening the door and stepping inside. "I'm home!" He shouted unsteadily. "About damn time you little runt!" A slightly slurred voice called from downstairs "get down here right now!". Despite Michael telling him not to, his foster dad had been drinking again. His anxiety only rose as he went down into the basement. The basement was essentially the living room of the house, a TV was positioned in a corner, with a sofa not far in front of it. His dad was currently laying along the length of the couch, taking up all the space on it. He had a single beer bottle in one hand, and the remote in another. Without even looking at him, his foster dad continued to yell at Michael "I thought I told you to be home by exactly 4 o'clock!" He yelled. "I know, but-" Michael began

"But what? Nothing trumps my reasoning, boy." His dad said

"I know, but I-" Michael attempted to tell his dad about Pearl, but was once again interrupted.

"Are you trying to challenge my judgement? Keep in mind who bought you a school pass, all those clothes of yours, and those medical bills for your fuckin' tumor!" His dad yelled. Michael grabbed his gem, his dad always did like to call it a tumor, he often threatened to cut it out if Michael acted up.

"But dad, there's something I gotta tell you" Michael said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah? Then spit it out!" His dad said. At this moment, Michael reflected on how his dad had reacted 2 years ago when he had asked him if his friend Austin could stay the night. Michael rubbed the barely visible scar on his cheek.

"U-uh, there was a new teacher at school and I was wondering I-if maybe I could bring something from my room a-as a welcoming gift." Michael said, a nervous smile slowly spreading across his face.

His dad tilted his head back a little to look at Michael, a serious look on his face. Then, he turned back to the tv.

"Fine, but you're grounded." He said gruffly.

Michael turned away and was just about to head up the stairs when he stopped and thought more about Pearl and, gathering up what remaining courage he had left… "actually dad, there was one more thing"

"Yeah, what is it?" His dad answered.

"There's this girl I met named Pearl, and she doesn't have a place to stay right now, so I was wondering if ...maybe she can..stay here?" Michael said shakily.

His dad was speechless, and rose from the couch, anger flaring through his veins. He slowly turned to Michael. "You…..what?"

"I was w-wondering if m-maybe this girl I met could s-stay here f-for a night o-or two?" Michael said, a little quieter.

His dad now completely turned to Michael and took a few steps towards him. "I thought….I told you...last time" he said. "But maybe...I didn't get through to you…"

Michael took a few steps back up the stairs, staring at his dad in horror. 'I knew that was a bad idea, now he's gonna hurt me again, or worse!' He thought.

"DON'T YOU TRY TO RUN AWAY FROM ME YOU BASTARD!" his dad yelled, mistaking michaels few steps up the stairs as him trying to get away.

This was it for Michael, the last push for him

To run

He turned and bolted up the stairs and out the front door, his dad stopping at the door. "YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN YOU LITTLE SHIT, YOU'RE DEAD MEAT WHEN YOU GET BACK HERE, Y'HEAR? YOU'RE GOOD AS DEAD" he yelled after him.

But Michael couldn't hear him, all he could hear was his own panicked breathing and his heart thumping out of his chest. He didn't stop running until he had reached the field again, where he saw pearl sitting on the warp pad waiting for his return. He stopped a few yards away from the warp pad and put his hands on his knees, sweating and gasping for air.

"Are you okay?" Pearl asked

"We gotta go" Michael said in between breaths.

"What?" Pearl asked, but Michael had already dragged Pearl up onto the warp pad.

"No time, we gotta go" Michael said as the warp pad activated, whisking them off somewhere new…

**_Hi guys! I'd just like to add to the end of this that I'm totally gonna go back and rework the first chapter sometime next month to make it WAAAY better, until then, stay tuned!_**


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